Fifty Shades of Grey blamed for falling sales of car books

EL James’ bestselling erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, has
been accused of a lot of things – most often “appalling writing” and
demeaning women with its steamy sadomasochistic scenes. But a more
surprising charge has now been added to the list.

EL James has found the success of 50 Shades of Grey 'completely and utterly overwhelming'Photo: Rex Features

Haynes, the publishing firm whose car manuals are regarded as a bible for mechanics, has blamed the Fifty Shades series for falling sales of its books.

The racy novels could not be further removed from the world of engine oil and carburettors but the company said retailers are shunning its titles while Fifty Shades and its sequels fly off the shelves.

“There is little doubt that…retail purchasing budgets were tight and that much of those available budgets went towards the phenomenally successful Fifty Shades series,” the company said in a statement announcing its financial results.

“Our books, in the most part, appeal to automobile and motorcycle enthusiasts. They are probably oriented to a male audience and I am not sure that Fifty Shades is the kind of thing they would enjoy, but that phenomenon is impacting general publishing budget,” added the company’s chief executive, Eric Oakley.

“Many bookshops have spent so much money on these titles that their resources [for buying other books] has been stretched to the limit.”

By contrast, Fifty Shades has become a publishing phenomenon after it sold more than 5m copies in the UK, and became the fastest-selling book of all time.

The book, which started life as a tribute to Stephanie Meyer’s popular Twilight series of novels, is now more popular than the Highway Code and sales are expected to leap further when it is made into a film.

Its success has been put down to the growing popularity of e-reading devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, which make it easier for people to enjoy the racy novel without embarrassment over their choice of material. More than 1.5m of the copies sold in this country were e-books.

It has also hit a nerve with women with its explicit portrayal of the sadomasochistic relationship billionaire Christian Gray, and his naïve conquest, the 21-year-old Anastasia Steele. The depiction of their relationship, which involves a strict contract, a fair amount of physical abuse and multifarious sex toys, has sparked a debate about women’s attitudes to acceptable bedroom conduct.

But not everyone has been impressed. Earlier this year, bestselling romantic novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dismissed the book as “juvenile” and full of “boring sex scenes” that add up to little more than a “shopping list of couples looking to spice up their sex lives”.

Mr Oakley added that he is unlikely to join the novel’s millions of fans. “It wouldn’t be in the top 100 books on my reading list. It is just not the sort of thing that interests me in any way,” he said.

Haynes was not the only publisher to blame EL James for falling sales. Quercus, which has built its success on Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, also said the “unprecedented” success of the Fifty Shades series had dented its revenues.